At all-party meet, Oppn lauds UP CM Yogi Adityanath's efforts to combat COVID-19 in State

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday convened an all-party meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the state which reported 48 more fatalities, raising the death toll due to the pandemic to 9,085.

Addressing the meeting, CM Yogi said that in order to tackle the present situation, all the parties have to come together and contribute to the state’s fight against the pandemic. He also said that while in February the districts were reporting fewer cases, and the government was hopeful of reducing the numbers further, the new virus strain has spread quickly, leading to a surge.

During the meeting, BSP and Congress representatives praised the BJP government on the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, a press release issued by the government said.

BSP leader Lalji Verma reportedly thanked Yogi Adityanath for convening the all-party meet and assured the party’s support on the government’s measures to tackle the pandemic. Verma recalled that BSP chief Mayawati often tweets in this regard, asking party workers to adhere to the directives, the press note said.

Suhail Ansari of the Congress also praised the government for successfully controlling the first wave. “We all expect the government and the officials to control the current wave with the same success as was done during the first phase,” he was quoted by the government as saying.

An invitation was reportedly extended to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Leader of Opposition in UP Assembly Ram Govind Chaudhary for the all-party meeting, but they did not turn up.

Governor asks UP Govt to expedite vaccination

During the meeting held at the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow, Governor Anandiben Patel said the Coronavirus situation was grim and that vaccination should be ramped up in the state.

“Novel coronavirus has returned after changing its form, due to which the situation has become grim. Now, we have to take benefit of our past experience, and soon control phase-2 of COVID-19, so that its spread can be curtailed. It is good that anti-COVID vaccine is available now, and the vaccination has to be effectively done," the governor said 

With 48 more deaths, the coronavirus fatality count in Uttar Pradesh climbed to 9,085 as 12,787 new cases took the state's infection tally to 6,76,739, according to a government statement. So far, 6,08,853 patients have recovered from the disease. The count of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 58,801.